While Detroit and Columbus battle for 8th place in the west, and the Rangers and Jets try to giveaway their playoff berth, the Oilers are in an epic battle to secure a top-five draft pick. Victories by Carolina and Nashville last night have given the Oilers a legitimate shot at the #4 pick, and a loss tonight would move them into 26th (fifth pick).

I feel for Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and the other players who give a solid effort most nights, because losing sucks, and this year the feelings of frustration, anger, failure and disappointment are more apparent than ever. Oilersnation is as beaten down as some of the players. Many said the 2012 season was rock bottom, however, that isn't the case; this year is turning out to be worse.

The Oilers were supposed to improve and compete for the playoffs this year. They did have a five-game winning streak that had them in the playoffs for ONE day, but since that 24-hour tease the Oilers have plummeted down the standings.

There will be no quick fix for the Oilers in the off-season. They won't be able to fool their fans into believing that an appearance by Oscar Klefbom and their first-round pick will be enough to make them competitive. They sure as hell better not fool themselves into believing that, because the reality is that this team needs improving in many areas.

The most pressing concern for this team is the need to improve their blueline. You can't win with limited size and strength on the backend. They desperately need a legitimate top-pairing defender, however, those aren't easy to find.

Those changes aren't possible during these final three games, but the players who are in the lineup tonight can at least give an honest effort. Show some pride, show some desire. When your best player, Taylor Hall, is giving a solid effort you'd think the lower-tier players would follow his lead.

LINEUP

Ryan Whitney has a lower body injury, leg, and he will sit tonight. Magnus Paajarvi is healthy so Eric Belanger returns to the pressbox.

The Oilers need to show up tonight, or the Blackhawks will embarrass them. The good news is that the Oilers are 4-1-1 vs. the Hawks over the past two seasons. and they've outscored them 32-23.

At the very least they need to be competitive tonight.

QUICK HITS

I disagree with those who believe the Gretzky statue should stay at Rexall, IF or when a new arena actually gets built. Gretzky is connected to the Oilers, not Northlands, Sky Reach Centre or Rexall Place. Molsons purchased the statue and spokesperson Julie Gathercole said,

I did, however, agree with Mark Spector's thoughts on my show. He said, "The Katz Group should step up and build their own statue at the new rink." That makes sense. They should finally step up and lead the charge. They should build some real statues, like the Roberto Clemente one in Pittsburgh (above, how awesome is that). Make a statement and show the fans you are committed to the past, present and future of your franchise. Spend some of your own money.

Why are so many fans in love with Teemu Hartikainen? What has he done? He has played 22 games and he has 0 ES points. Zero. If I'm not mistaken, he hasn't even been on the ice for an ES goal. He has an incredible opportunity to earn himself a regular NHL job, but he's done nothing to show he wants that job. Players need to realize they don't get NHL jobs handed to them. They need to earn them.

Ralph Krueger agreed that Hartikainen needs to be more aggressive and have more pushback. "It is important as part of your persona that you respond to that (Beauchemin hit), whether you are a skilled player or not. It is the grit within our offence that is a major element that is missing on our team. We need to have that from guys who aren't PP guys. He is trying to figure that out, and he needs to become more aggressive with his personality."

Gotta love the NHL. The Panthers, the worst team in the league, defeated the Rangers, in a fight for their playoff lives, last night. Did anyone pick the Panthers on their Sports Select ticket? I doubt it. Most of us assume the Hawks will win tonight, but in the NHL you never know from game-to-game who will win.

Oscar Klefbom has spent the past few seasons playing against men, and he looks like he can handle the physical toll of the NHL. He is bigger than many of the guys in the Oilers room. It was refreshing to hear this from Krueger today, "I think he will be able to come to camp and push for the #6 spot on our blueline." The last thing the Oilers need to do is pencil him into their top-four. They need to find proven top-four veterans to play there. If Klefbom comes in and blows the doors off, great, but this team can't expect to improve if they pin their hopes on another young defender.

Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL with 31 goals. In the 48-game, 1995 season five players had 30+ goals. Owen Nolan, Ray Sheppard and Alex Zhamnov had 30, Jaromir Jagr had 32 and Peter Bondra led the league with 34 goals. The crazy stat is that Bondra only had 9 assists. NINE freaking assists in 48 games, despite scoring 34 goals.

Did you notice Babe Dye's 1925 season? He had 38 goals in 29 games, which was 1.31 goals/game. When Gretzky scored 50 in 39 he was at 1.28. Technically Dye had missed one of his team's game so he had 38 goals in 30 of his team's games which dropped him to 1.26. Either way, Dye had an unreal 1925 season.

Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Devan Dubnyk have accepted invitations to the World Championships. Sources tell me Steven Stamkos, Claude Giroux, Eric and Jordan Staal are also likely to be going. Also Justin Schultz, Nick Schultz and Sam Gagner might get an invite. Ladislav Smid will play for the Czech Repulic. Nail Yakupov, Jeff Petry also have a good chance of representing the USA and Russia.

TONIGHT....

GAME DAY PREDICTION: The last time the Hawks were in Edmonton Sam Gagner had 4 goals and 8 points. No one expected that to happen, so anything is possible tonight. We'll see 10 goals tonight, but the Oilers will lose 6-4.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Andy Moog gets a huge ovation, and before puck drop someone will have the Moog mini-stick they received before the game listed on Kijiji. Likely for $30 bucks.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Oilers fans despite being beaten down, will give a standing ovation in the 2nd period after the 4-89-14 line hem the Hawks in for 30 seconds. The dedication and passion of Oilers fans never ceases to amaze me.

One of Canada's most versatile sports personalities. Jason hosts The Jason Gregor Show, weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m., on TSN 1260, and he writes a column every Monday in the Edmonton Journal. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JasonGregor

In 2006 the Oilers caught lightning in a bottle. We snuck into the 8th seed on the last day of the season. Every player played over their skill level. We blocked shots, sacrificed the body and rode a extremley hot goaltender to the finals. That was not management, that was heart.

That season, Vancouver lost 4 of its 6 starting D at the same time down the stretch.

If that hadn't happened, 2006 would just be another bad memory and the Oilers would now have missed the playoffs for 10 consecutive years.

And hey everybody, for the record, Drops Steaming Fudge can now predict chaos effects! He "knows" that the only relevant parameter to whether the Oilers made the playoffs that year is the four injuries to Vancouver! He "knows" that only the Oilers playoff positioning was affected by the Vancouver injuries, but no other team would have moved up OR down! He "knows" that no other of the literally infinite number of "what ifs" that *could* apply actually *do* apply!

What god-like powers!

What utter and infantile stupidity.

Good grief...so much venom and spite.

Vancouver went from 101 points in 2003/04 and, with virtually the same lineup, dropped to 92 points in 05/06.

The following season, 06/07, they recorded 105 points.

Now, you might argue that losing 4 of your top 6 defensemen AT THE SAME TIME, had nothing to do with that but you would be WRONG.

Of course, I'm sure you will argue that the mighty Oil were responsible for Vancouver's difficulties but I am sure, beyond a doubt, that Vancouver, with a full complement of healthy defensemen, would have finished well ahead of the Oilers

And hey everybody, for the record, Drops Steaming Fudge can now predict chaos effects! He "knows" that the only relevant parameter to whether the Oilers made the playoffs that year is the four injuries to Vancouver! He "knows" that only the Oilers playoff positioning was affected by the Vancouver injuries, but no other team would have moved up OR down! He "knows" that no other of the literally infinite number of "what ifs" that *could* apply actually *do* apply!

What god-like powers!

What utter and infantile stupidity.

Drops Steaming Fudge - that's some good stuff! (it's not real venom Fudge-man it's humour especially you have to expect that after dropping another one your World According Freakish Stats Dreams on us)

He never ceases to amaze me either with these.

So I guess last year then what was the "LA Kings" excuse for the Canucks. Probably something like well if Daniel had not got a freak injury late in the year he makes the proper back check in Game 1 (although he never back checks) and Canucks win Game 1 - they never lose Game 2's after Game 1 victories and with that they close out the Kings and the ride to their first Stanley Cup is a distant memory and Canucks Nation are still burning down Robson Street to this very day. . . .am I close?

Drops Steaming Fudge - that's some good stuff! (it's not real venom Fudge-man it's humour especially you have to expect that after dropping another one your World According Freakish Stats Dreams on us)

He never ceases to amaze me either with these.

So I guess last year then what was the "LA Kings" excuse for the Canucks. Probably something like well if Daniel had not got a freak injury late in the year he makes the proper back check in Game 1 (although he never back checks) and Canucks win Game 1 - they never lose Game 2's after Game 1 victories and with that they close out the Kings and the ride to their first Stanley Cup is a distant memory and Canucks Nation are still burning down Robson Street to this very day. . . .am I close?

Vancouver went from 101 points in 2003/04 and, with virtually the same lineup, dropped to 92 points in 05/06.

The following season, 06/07, they recorded 105 points.

Now, you might argue that losing 4 of your top 6 defensemen AT THE SAME TIME, had nothing to do with that but you would be WRONG.

Of course, I'm sure you will argue that the mighty Oil were responsible for Vancouver's difficulties but I am sure, beyond a doubt, that Vancouver, with a full complement of healthy defensemen, would have finished well ahead of the Oilers

That year Chris Pronger craps bigger than your top 4 dman so yes it is irrelevant.

And no it's not about 2006 - it's about your hypothetical Canucks 2006 Stanlet Cup Team.

Wow, you're on fire today, DSF! Though I have heard that turd is a good source of hydrocarbons.

Schultz Jr is leading all rookie D in points. That's why he stays up. Every other team in the league would take him in a heartbeat.

Speaking of rookies - hey DSF, remember back a whole month ago when you were declaring Yak City a bust and predicting he would finish -40?

No one outside of Edmonton is speaking all that glowingly about Yak and his one dimensional game. Just looks like more of the same as what they already have. Hall with 2 nice assists on Hawk goals though.

I could not agree more with the original guys statements. I try to watch all of every game, cuz I love it. However, I've never been so disgusted as a fan, as this year with the Oilers. There's a handful of them that put an effort in all the time, and I mostly mean Hall. I'm a Riders fan so I'm not new with being disappointed but with the Oilers..... They pushing me to be a Jets fan! Completely sick of the lack of effort!..... Sorry to any fans that don't agree with me, hate to say it, but the truth hurts! It hurts me.

It seems to me that the give and go transitions into the o-zone have traditionally allowed us to destroy this team, so what the heck,why not give it a roll ?Hahahaha. Oh , dont forget the zone entry speed must be correct, not to fast now its a race not a sprint.

There was once a time when a game like this would give oil fans false hope. 'See, we can compete with the league's best, we just need to be consistent'. Once we were that naïve. The truth is that the Hawks are trying not to incur any injuries. This has the intensity of a scrimmage. Non-contact hockey with the oil, all of the oil, going through the motions. A complete embarrassment.

Anyone thinking that we hit rock bottom last year, wrong. This year? Wrong again. Like crackheads find out, the bottom is WAY further down than can be imagined.

We want a controlled laterally strong 3 man transition into the o-zone,with a d-man ready to come in behind right to the net to clean up garbage. Not a semi-fast break give and go attempt like we tried there for a bit.ANd when we finish the give and gos we need to use a onetime redirection or some type of quick-release onetimer,we need to speed our shots up,the zone entry is controlled but we execute the onetimer type of shots.

Simple method.

All is well,just hit the o-zone entrys better with lateral strength ,use the onetimers and have a d-man coming in upspeed down the middle for the rebounds we box out with our 3 man entry and net collapse.

Yeah you're right, Schultz belongs in the AHL. You know he still leads all defencemen in scoring right? There's a guy tied with him who has played 75 games. Schultz played 34. Do you read what you write?

Assuming the oil lose out, a TB win over Fla and a big effort from Nashville in Columbus puts the oil in 28th. 30th, then 29th and now 28th. Movin on up like George Jefferson! Stanley comes home in 2040.

Dubnyk stood on his head and still lost. Without paying much attention I counted 6 breakaways. That is bush league hockey. The first one occurred because Hall decided to try to deke 4 Hawks instead of chipping it deep. That set the tone.

If the d-men know this happens repeatedly, I'm not sure why they just don't back up. Yeah the game is fast but... they do this for a frickn living. Someone along the way isn't accepting the system.

The only hope now is to find Kyle Wellwood. He will know what to do. Did you know that during one 60 second stretch in a game 4 years ago Wellwood was a +2? That works out to be +120 per 60 mins!!! He is obviously superior to every Oiler that ever lived ever in everington everville.